Carnival, Fasnacht, Entroido, Mardi Gras – this annual festival is celebrated in cities and villages throughout Europe and the Americas. Each having its own local flavour and customs.

With more than 325 dazzling colour photographs, this book takes the reader on an exciting journey through Carnivals in eleven widely different places, from New Orleans to Bulgaria, outlining its history and its present form in each area.

Some festivals promote the fertility of crops, animals and people; others involve social and political satire. The authors present all the major masquerades, including Venice's classic Harlequin and Pierrot, Bulgaria's Kouker and Port of Spain's Midnight Robber, as well as the variety of participants, such as Recife and Olinda's Brazilian population and the charro dancers of Mexico.

Whatever religious or civic significance Carnival may hold, it is always a time of play, fantasy and excess – a time when alternatives to the status quo can be imagined and people can push aside everyday inhibitions.

Barbara Mauldin is curator of Latin American folk art at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.